Favorite White Wines Tasted

. Cabreo La Pietra, produced by Folonair, Vintage 2007
Complex, moderately intense aroma, with oak, butter, vanilla
Full bodied and lengthy finish, with woody, buttery, and layered taste
Pair with gorgonzola cheese, intense flavored grilled fish with sauce

. Guerrieri Rizzardi "Costeggiola", produced by Guerrieri Rizzardi, Vintage 2008, Chardonnay and Garganega blend
Fruity, caramel, apple, white peach and almond aroma, moderately intense, fruit, and butter
Smooth and very well balanced, not crisp with a slight nut taste, moderate finish
Pair with Italian delicacies and seafood

. Broy Chardonnay blend, produced by Eugenio Collavini in Collio, Vintage 2006
Very complex aroma, with butter, honey, and vanilla, peach and melon, fruit
Rich, balanced oak, and honey taste with a long finish and smooth non tangy
Pair chilled with appetizers and room temperature with warm chicken or grilled fish

- Wine Journal wines tasted: 23

Post To Do's

1. My time with Joyce (this may be a long one, there is so much to say)
2. The wines we've tasted, their flavors and ideal pairings, and my ratings
3. My letter "to you"
4. Updated Bucket List...Italian Style
5. Monday's small adventures and Caroline's Birthday eve

The Bucklet List...Italian Style

1. Ride on a vespa
2. Stomp grapes with my feet
3. Visit the cemetery located just outside the Cortona gates
4. Walk all the way around the city
5. Have a conversation with someone who doesn't speak any English
6. Buy wine from Marco
7. Hike up to the top Cathedral and have a picnic lunch
8. Run up the diavolo hill
9. Eat a homemade Italian meal
10. Witness true Italian love
11. Write a "to you" letter
12. Find the secret bakery
13. Travel outside Cortona by myself
14. Give a wine a 5 Star rating
15. Convince someone to stay for the rest of the summer and live it up for me
16. See the Italian coast
17. ...

To be continued.

Saturday May 15 - Arezzo

Absolutely the most amazing day that I have had so far. Words can not even explain how incredibly crazy today was. My bus ride was quite the success. And I figured when the bus pulled over in a town square and even the bus driver got off, that it might be time to get off the bus. I got dropped off in this small town, at the intersection of two huge streets. So standing in the middle, I basically had four options to take. I had to meet Joyce at a café outside of a church, so I figured I might head towards this chapel looking point that I saw up on the hill. I have to say, I navigate Italy a lot better than I have ever navigated in Georgia. Literally up the hill ten minutes later, I find the café where I’m supposed to be…only problem is, I’m two and half hours early. So I start to wander around. I come across some old churches and buildings and wander outside the city gate and then back in. And then I notice this big church where there seems to be somewhat of busy people running around. The front two massive wooden doors are open and there are men in tuxedos and corsages and a picture man somewhat standing at the doors greeting people, so I kinda sneak it to figure out what’s going on. And the most amazing thing, there was a wedding about to start, in this huge church, in Arezzo. So I snuck my way into the crowd lining the aisle, and sure enough, a few minutes later the wedding procession all stood, and the bride walked through the two opened wooden doors (under a bright blue umbrella because it has not stopped raining for 3 days straight). She looked beautiful and I watched this amazing bride and her father walk down the aisle and watched and listened to their Italian wedding, almost like I knew the family. As amazing as all the architecture is here, this was probably the most breathtaking part of my trip. I couldn’t stop smiling, thinking that I had traveled, by myself, in Italy, and was witnessing the most amazing Italian wedding, inside this incredibly overwhelming Cathedral. What a feeling, it’s so indescribable. I really wish I could also describe the multiple other places I saw, and their incredible architecture, but I really saw so much just by wondering around, that it was so hard to remember to what I’d seen and what I hadn’t.

After the wedding, I decided I wanted to see what else I could discover. Maybe not the best idea, considering I had no map and no way of communicating. I truly wandered too far and ended up getting lost for about 25 minutes trying to find anything that I had recognized to get back to my little café. I learned my lesson to not travel alone without an umbrella because men will walk up to you and cover you with their umbrella and ask something….not sure what, my Italian hasn’t gotten to that language yet.

I ended up calling Joyce when I finally found my way back and discovered she was still over an hour away. So I found myself wandering over one more street in the other direction, and I hit the jackpot. It was basically shopping heaven. An Italian street lined with incredible Italian designer clothes. Granted all the kids from high school were running around in their umbrellas, but the clothing stores were beautiful. I found a Zara at the very end, and about that time I heard from Joyce and after a little misunderstanding, I was able to finally meet this incredible woman who opened her home to me for the weekend. She did take me by this old building, and on the outside were these three rows of multiple, multiple columns. And as she was talking about it, she told me that when the building was being built, that the building had asked all different artists to each design and sculpt one column on the side of the building. And remarkably enough, all one hundred plus of the columns were all different in size. Joyce then asked me to pick out my favorite one, and my initial thought is that it was going to take forever to stare at these columns looking up into the sun, but in a split second my eye was caught by these simple column with the ‘forever knot” on it. And immediately I told Joyce that was my favorite, and preceded to show her my James Avery ring that also has the “forever knot” on it. In essence the ring is one never-ending line, tied in a knot, representing the never-ending idea of love. She was amazed by my ring and told me that those who find the knot their favorite are tied in their roots and have a strong background and therefore a strong standing in life. I couldn’t have asked for a better description of my life.

It was crazy to think that for five hours today, I walked around a small town in Italy by myself, and trying to blend in, and I managed to do quite well for myself. And like Joyce said, it’s hard to find an unattractive Italian man, so I knew that I was never without an umbrella or directions if I had really needed them… but doing it alone, was awesome.

Saturday May 15 - Bus Ride to Arezzo...

I just got on a bus by myself to Arrezo. What was I thinking? Not going to lie, I have never been so intimidated in my life. I basically have my North Face backpack, Kavu slingback, my Columbia rain jacket layered over my black Patagonia and my chacos on…if I wanted to blend, I failed miserably. Plus I have my hair in a messy ponytail. Being a convinving Italian was a huge fail. I basically packed my backpack with my computer and a quick change of clothes and a Coke zero and cliff bar, and hopped on a blue bus that said Arezzo. Thank God for Caroline who waited with me at the bus stop. I might have died. I literally loaded the bus with like 25 Italian kids. They’re all sitting in a group behind me laughing. Kinda oonvinced I must be a part of their conversation. Probably thinking who actually wears that stuff…but right back at you girl with white skinny jeans and a baby pink hello kitty packpack and bright purple cropped jacket….

Our bus just stopped at this small loop through and luckily most of them got off. Now I say luckily because I was feeling really intimidated, but I sure hope that wasn’t where I was supposed to get off or switch buses. For the mean time, I’m thinking not.

It’s been such a damper that it has rained every day since we arrived in Cortona. And there really is not such thing as a rain jacket to these people, so they walk through their small alleys with these big umbrellas, and I feel like I have to dodge a poke to my eye every time I walk by someone.

But the ride to Arezzo has been doable. I saw what looked to be a water park down the hill. We’d seen lights of a Ferris Wheel at night when Caroline and I are sitting outside of Tonino’s (the restaurant that cooks dinner for UGA at night) drinking a bottle of wine and reliving our favorite memories of the day or questioning people with “have you ever been in love…?” to get in deep with some of the others on the trip with us (it’s such a great conversation starter….you’d be surprised where the conversation ends). But I would have to pass on the fair after my bad experience on the fast spinning, center gravity force thing that nearly destroyed my stomach last year at camp. The sight of a Ferris wheel might make me lose it.

But I’m starting to pick up on the people on the bus. I really think they’re like normal high schoolers who took the day to spend in Cortona. They must have not had school and they travel in little groups on a day trip. It’s actually really fun sounding. It would be like asking someone if they wanted to go to Lenox for the day….only you’re in Italy, and it’s much cooler. And we’ve maybe stopped like 5 times on the way, and all but one of the kids got off. She’s sitting at the front of the bus occasionally glancing back at me. And now there’s two older people on the front of the bus too….and that’s it. But the lady at the tourist office told me it would take about an hour to get to Arezzo, so I’m just chilling until I get there. The last girl just got off. They all kinda live within one or two bus stops from each other and must meet up and take the bus to wherever they want to go.

I had to buy a bus ticket for 3 euros. But I still don’t exactly know how the bus system works, and I didn’t show it to anyone. I think that you’re supposed to “validate’ the ticket when you get on, and from what I heard, you can get fined 50 euros for traveling without a validated ticket. So let’s hope that doesn’t happen…but I’m totally going to play dumb American if it does. I think I could be pretty successful at that.

I’m pretty excited about finally meeting my parents’ friend Joyce. She’s the reason I’m making this solo journey to Arezzo on a rainy Saturday, when in any other circumstance, I would have stayed in bed all day. My parents met her years ago when they rented her house to stay in when they were visiting Italy. She and I have emailed since I arrived in Cortona, and we made a game plan for the day. She was going to pick me up from the train station, but because she was at her coastal home finishing up some renovations, she said she wouldn’t be back til maybe around 5. This was the last bus out of Cortona, so I’m flying solo in Arezzo when I get there. She recommended some rain shelter locations for me, and then I’ve got to meet her at a café at the Piazza san Francesco. I’ve really only been on one blind date, and this feels so much more intimidating.

I got 8 miles to Arezzo…definitely about to do a major Italian cram sessh....

Wish me luck and let’s hope my Italian doesn’t make me an even more dead give away.

Friday May 14 - Assisi

In finishing my blog from Friday, I don’t think it could have rained any more while I’ve been here. Assisi was a downpour, but absolutely beautiful. But as I describe everything as quaint, looking up at Assisi, it was not quaint. The bus took us through this town with this pretty good sized church with a gold statue outside. And we pull over for a “check point” and I’m thinking that this is Basiilica San Francesco (St. Francis). But we keep driving and as I look up the hill, there is this enormous town of hugely grand buildings. And at one end of the town is this enormous almost castile looking building…

I was so wrong. The little gold statute building didn’t even compare to the real Basilica. We got dropped at one end of Assisi in the pouring rain and as we made our way into the city, me and some of the girls stopped for lunch. It took probably 2 hours (30 minutes plus of that was waiting for the lady to take our order…again, no sense of urgency). And then we walked through the rain and took pictures of the little town of Assisi (which I put on Facebook with some pictures from our school and Rome).

But when we got to the other end where Basilica of St. Francis was, I was blown away. This building is incredible. And there is so much history and ancient artifacts that I didn’t even know where to start. The frescoes on the wall start at the top with the Old Testament series, under it the New Testament series, and then at the bottom, story of St. Francis. The Cathedral was huge and immaculate. Nothing like I’d seen before. Sadly a lot of the frescoes were damaged by an earthquake that hit not too terribly long ago, maybe 20 or 30 years, and the paintings weren’t able to be restored. But still, what an amazing building to be standing in.

The bus ride home was spent reviewing for my test, and so was the night before. I sometimes forget, when in Cortona….you still have to study.

Friday May 14 - Tiorgiamo

I honestly cannot remember the last time I went on a school field trip. Maybe middle school, eighth grade to some museum that probably didn't fascinate me in the slightest bit. But today was great. Caroline and I made plans to wake up a few minutes early and head to the local fruit shop in town before embarking on our day, so we did that first thing Friday morning. I would love living here if it meant that I could do that every morning. They have some of the best fruit, including pink melon apples, kiwi, plums (pretty much any fruit), plus the best...slightly brown speckled bananas. None of this green, unripe stuff. I've gotta go back on Monday and stock up...yogurt and cereal wasn't doing anymore for breakfast.

But our bus first stopped in Tiorgiamo at a wine museum. But rewind, as we're riding our of Cortona to this little city, we passed a Harley Davidson store. Huge showroom building just chilling on the side of the rode in Italy. But when we got to Tiorgiamo, we had a few minutes to wander around and take in the small city. And all the toilets in Italy I've noticed are different. The ones in the airport don't have toilet seats, and the ones at our restaurant have two side by side buttons you push to flush (ones bigger than the other...you can figure out why), and then our bathroom has a almost the back portion of an American toilet almost upside down with a silver notch you push up to flush. So strange. But I had to laugh when we were in Tiorgiamo because it added a new addition to my list of toilets, with a silver chain pulled to flush from the ceiling. Ha, took me a while to find it...and then can't tell you about Assisi because they wanted .50E for a bathroom use...not happening.

But the wine museum was interesting...in addition to our German tour guide lady. Weird, you'd think they'd hire a native. But the best part of the museum was this section where they had all these different kinds of cups and glasses that were used. Most of them were quite normal, but there was this one almost glass looking pitcher, with a handle that where it attached towards the top of the pitcher, had a tube down into the bottom inside. And then around the rim there was this crown looking design with holes underneath any part of the drinking lip. And I'm sitting there going, there's no successful way anyone can drink out of this jar. Well come to find out, the jar was used back in the day at social parties where there might be parties. And the when the jar was filled with wine, you weren't able to see the tube inside. The trick, known only to the parents, was to suck through a small hole in the handle that would pull wine from the tube on the inside.... A child-proof wine pitcher. How creative.

Caroline and I signed the guest book. If you ever make it, look us up!

Rainiest day ever in Assisi...post to come.